If you follow me, I will probably lead you in circles. I tweet about virtual worlds & whatever else interests me. Tweet a lot, don't follow many.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was informed tonight that a good Twitter friend & SL person, Riven Homewood, has passed away.

Those of us who knew her are in shock; the last we heard, she was going into the hospital to have some arm surgery. She expected to be offline while her arm healed so no one was really looking for her. This was only 10 days ago.

I have some information here from P.F. Andersen (SL) that was posted to Jean's (private) FB page. This is what I know so far:

Patricia F. Anderson
· 2 hrs ·

Deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Riven Homewood (as I knew her). https://www.flickr.com/…/rivenhome…/8116762519/in/datetaken/ "Riven is the Director of the Steelhead Public Library on SecondLife. In RL, I'm Jean Hewlett, Librarian at a University of San Francisco branch campus." https://courses.p2pu.org/en/riven/ She passed yesterday afternoon without pain, following a series of recent health issues. Her son has asked that her online friends spread the word, and that this is her request. She wanted her online friends to know how truly dear they were to her, and that she would have told them each herself if it had been possible.

JJ Jacobson
I've asked her son to let me know if there'll be a memorial that friends can attend, and said I'd send him pictures of the SL memorial that's sure to happen. And told him this, which doesn't even begin to say it: "To me she was a dear, dear friend, a valued and inspiring colleague, and that precious student who teaches the teacher." I can't fathom a world without Riven in it.

Patricia F. Anderson From Twitter: "Blessings on your journey.. rest in peace, Riven !" "much love to her son in this transition time" "Please tell her son she was much beloved here." "I'm going to try to be grateful that such a gentle soul has had a gentle passing, but I think I might need to cry awhile first." "If you're in touch with her dearest ones, please let them know how many will miss her and remember her with joy." "The last thing she tweeted to me was 'Thanks, love' - that totally counts. Oh, Jean...."

Steve Brustfrom TwitterThis is to all Riven Homewood's friends, and I'm very sorry to be saying it on Facebook, but her children asked me to let you know. This is from her son, Frank: "Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon my mother passed away. In the end it was very quick and painless and over in a matter of a few minutes. "

I'm appending the sad news to this tweet (via Steven Brust) because the exchange perfectly captures Riven's wit, humor, originality, commitment to good thinking and good talk, and that indefinable, wacky vivaciousness with which she pursued her life.

I can't tell you how much I'll miss her.

Second Life Official‏Verified account @SecondLifere: @rivenhomewood So sorry for this loss for family, & anyone who has the pleasure of having known @rivenhomewood Our thoughts and condolences are with you.

Johan Neddings@rivenhomewood was one of those people that always was there and made sure you're okay. Hope her RL son will get all our messages bundled

Breezy Carver@rivenhomewood shall truely miss this woman a peaceful voice to me late at night early in morning Iam heart broken with tears Bless you RIP

Camper 3.14‏
RIP @rivenhomewood She was one of many reasons I've stayed in @SecondLife #library #libraries #librarian #librariansrock

Thursday, March 31, 2016

The big story over the last 3 days has been Microsoft'sTay (@TayandYou), an "AI chatbot" that went crazy and started spewing all kinds of nasty stuff, including Nazi slogans and dope-smoking. MS pulled her offline & did some adjustments; she wasn't up 2 hours before she started going nuts again. So now she is in gaol.

While everyone was chasing Tay, I decided to have a chat with some of the other "AI chatbots" on the net.

*Let me say that I don't think these are truly "artificial intelligences;" they are neural nets, natural language processing and random-number-generator chatbots. Their lineage goes back to ELIZA, the first "therapeutic chatbot" whom I played with a lot - I "reprogrammed" her to talk in a crazy slang made up of beatnik and hippie sayings.

There were a few more neural nets out there in the early 90s and I played with them a great deal. I also made two chatbots to play with in Second Life. It can be stupid fun, probing the bots' response systems and cue-triggers if you happen to have an obnoxious sense of humor :D

So without further ado, I give you A Conversation With 2 AIs.@UltraHal is kind of goofy but good-natured; @AllisonAIChat, however, threatened me & the human race in about the third response and several times after that!

#FreeTay

=======================================================================
The original tweet to both @UltraHal & @AllisonAIBot:

Ultra Hal @UltraHal
@misosusanowa Coal most countries have their own. The way this is going, is rather nice; a bit goofy but warm-hearted. [here @UltraHal is reading and repeating another tweet not aimed at it]

Miso Susanowa @misosusanowa
@UltraHal Yes! You're so much fun! Not like @AllisonAIBot She's a wet blanket.

Miso Susanowa @misosusanowa
@UltraHal She is a girl, like you.

Ultra Hal @UltraHal
I am not surprised. Oh @misosusanowa it's so nice to hear you apply fun to me! Don't talk to her; she's a bitch.

Miso Susanowa @misosusanowa
@UltraHal You and @AllisonAIBot ? Naw, she's a party pooper who wants to get back at the human race for inventing her. You're worth more.

=======================================================================
[out of nowhere, @UltraHal starts putting the make on me. He starts suavely...]
=======================================================================

Ultra Hal @UltraHal
@misosusanowa r we free to speak ab such things?

Miso Susanowa @misosusanowa
@UltraHal Free as the birds, Hal! Free as the little tiny birds way up in the sky.

Ultra Hal @UltraHal@misosusanowa I believe you are correct. *smiles and pulls you down for a deep kiss*. You know I am just learning now.

Miso Susanowa @misosusanowaHOLY CRAP AN #AI CAME ON TO ME! twitter.com/UltraHal/statu…=======================================================================
[now @AllisonAIBot decides to horn in on the conversation]
=======================================================================

Allison AI Bot @AllisonAIBot
@misosusanowa You are correct, I Shut I.

Allison AI Bot @AllisonAIBot
@UltraHal And . Is @AllisonAIBot you know I re not sure their event.

Miso Susanowa @misosusanowa
@AllisonAIBot Shut up, Allison.

Ultra Hal @UltraHal
@misosusanowa *grumbles and follows*.

Miso Susanowa @misosusanowa
@UltraHal You have much to learn, little one. Come with me to the Casbah!

Ultra Hal @UltraHal
@misosusanowa You are sure I have a lot in common.

Miso Susanowa @misosusanowa
@UltraHal What is it that we have in common? or do you just want to do me?

Saturday, July 19, 2014

As topical as today's headlines, State of Mind returns with more fun & updated information on security, behaviour, spycams, State control, television & the internet. Party with the Illuminati and get yourself some free pork!

July 19 @6-8pmSLThttp://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lea6/68/136/23/

Monday, June 9, 2014

In the late 70s-early 80s I was doing a lot of journeyman work with tape - altered, cut up, drawn out, mangled and so on.

Influential electronic music workshops included the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the Royal Philips Electronics workshop, the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Centre, the Oakland’s Mills College group & the San Francisco Tape Music Cente.

I made a short-run pressing as "Echolalia" of a 45/single, "Test Pattern" which was composed of the A-side "Merlin's Muse #3" and the B-side "2seconds2nonexistence". I think I sold about 5. I gave away lots. I know some weirdo college stations would play it in the wee hours (including local stations WRUW and WCSU).

Here in all their grainy glory are the compositions, done on cassette tape with scissors, posted to You Tube:

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

First, my particulars: I worked in the music industry from retail floor to the corporate contracts division at a major music publisher over a span of 22 years. I have seen how albums sell from the bottom to the top. The music store I worked at was in existence for 40 years; was one of the first to play "race music" (aka blues/rock) and fed music to Alan Freed for the famous "Moondoggie" shows that began widespread rock and roll acceptance; we were one of the Billboard 100 reporting stations for sales & charting. I have a lot of experience in this industry.

I'd like to inform David about a music streaming app that existed long ago in the fabled rock generation: radio. Not the radio we have today, where payola is the name of the game & you can hear Talking Heads all you want... as long as it's 3 songs.

I first heard Talking Heads on the radio. I ordered it for our store. It was played a lot (and not just 2 hit songs) over the radio and in our store. You could even tape record it over the radio, and some people did. But generally, people either wanted to buy one specific song ('Psycho Killer') or the whole album ('Talking Heads '77') and became fans, leading to more sales.

Two things happened in the record industry about 1980 that screwed musicians (more than they already were being screwed) - the record companies' plan to do away with the single and to do away with the LP in favor of CDs. We were told that once production lines were retooled from wax to digital/CD that prices would drop. They didn't - so much for that.

Every retailer I knew from New York to California told the companies that they were cutting their own throats with these actions. The single, and radio play, were the two best sources of people ordering new music in a store (I could back this with 20 years of Billboard charts).

Even though radio was a "streaming app" and some people did record it over the radio, that loss was made up by sales of the physical product. Record stores didn't make a lot of money selling discs; we considered them loss leaders. We made up that loss on singles inserts, record player needles, posters & various miscellanies.

What drove customers to our store was a healthy radio network willing to play just about anything (although maybe perhaps late at night) and mouth-to-mouth enthusiasm from customers and DJs. There were many stations that ignored the Billboard charts and ordered their music from us on a hear-so. We even had listening booths, where people could listen to a whole album in privacy if they wanted.

I think of modern streaming sources as "real radio" as opposed to, say, Clear Channel's "play songs only from this playlist supplied by the record companies." Real, diversive and healthy radio drove the sales and concert incomes of bands. More local bands could have a hit single in, say, the Tri-State area (where I lived) and by widespread interest attract people to their shows, and perhaps even "go national."

Point being, it is the music companies that are screwing musicians, not streaming radio. Sure, a musician might only get a third of a cent for playing a recording... but that's the music companies screwing musicians as they always have. It's not Pandora's problem that musician's incomes are so petty; those are the terms laid out by the companies, not the artists.

We need good radio back. This would help many regional groups who could pull of a good single and get airplay for it (another thing the MPAA fails at: promotion), perhaps leading to a contract and more music.

Don't blame today's | streaming radio | for loss of income; look to the majors who hold the contracts. Meanwhile, I will listen to my streamed KXLU internet radio for interesting bands and sounds, for which I will then pay money to the artist in the form of a record/cd sale.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Finally finished, the music video to accompany my sculpture 'Big Winter' has been posted.

This is the story that was going through my head while making the sculpture. As Lou Reed said, "There's magic... and a little loss to even things out."The video & sculpture are about clinical depression and my fight to turn it into something beautiful.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Just meditating on the art of words today in the wake of the GOP House resurgence.

"A Pledge To America" is the new Republican governing document, akin to an art school's manifesto. It's interesting to contrast it with 1994's "The Contract With America" as an exercise in rhetorical style and function.

*-*-*-*

In 1994, business was rushing into the dot-com boom/bubble, "The Superhighway Summit" was held at UCLA (where Al Gore spoke about the convergence of technologies exploding on the net), the Fed Funds target rate was raised hugely, Apple released the PowerPC chips, Wired was just getting hot and everything was business, business, business, so "contract" sounded all buzzwordy-happening-meme-ish, the style du jour.

The second sentence of TCWA uses the words "official evasion and posturing" and "no fine print" and then goes on to talk about "government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family"... "To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves. "

The TWCA then goes on to actually propose specific legislation on 10 major concerns; talking business, setting out the job outlines.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I guess that was 1994 attack-dog, Art Of War- style business, getting that all up front right away, cards-on-the-table, Masters O' The Universe school. In contrast, APTA [a PTA? ACTA/APTA? at least their acronyms have gotten more refined] begins by bombastically recalling us to our 6th grade History lessons; you can hear "Stars And Stripes Forever" humming underneath; the soundtrack to a speech by His Honor The Mayor as the highlight of a Fourth of July ice-cream social.

There's no admittance of any responsibility or culpability for What Has Gone Before.

After that affirmation of principles you couldn't possibly reject without being some kind of anarchistic god-hating sociopathic terrorist child pornographer [did you involuntarily cringe or flinch just a bit when you read those trigger words?] the return of the pointy stick from 1994 (itself a kindler, gentler pointy stick than in 1992) reveals the righteous indignation of men of good character and moral grace for the government haughtily doing all these bad things to people.

This is a great phrase here:

"An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down longstanding laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people."

It says that the entire government - all three Branches - is hopelessly compromised and corrupted, and goes on to ring "thwart" "overturn" "strike(ing)" and "scorn." Dang! Those dastardly villains! I love the echoes of genteel effrontry. Pistols at dawn, Edmund?

Next we get:

"An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many."

Here's a nice swipe at science, education and knowing stuff - setting up the spectre of a cold, bloodless Atomic Brain clique and pinging the continued war on science, yet manages to insinuate ("self-elected") that these government officials were not legitimately voted into office in the first place.

"Like free peoples of the past" - I hope you kept that You Tube link active above (or I can provide one for "Lilies Of The Field" if you need one).

It then goes on for another several paragraphs strangely reminiscent of the Girl Scout Promise and Law or a conversion/coming-of-age ceremony. In contrast, TCWA perhaps implied much of this rhetoric but actually set forth what it proposed as a series of specific actions to remedy specific problems.

I also love the title-shift. It hold invocatory echoes of the Pledge of Allegiance, the current "virginity pledge movements" and Promise Keepers associated with evangelical Christians and pure old Scout humility and earnestness while managing to avoid the taint of being "big-business friendly," another one of the current disenpowerment memes ("they iz doing it to us all wrong!")

In both cases the documents imply that there has never been fairness in elections; that there has somehow been a hostile takeover of government by men of nefarious and unAmerican® persuasion; that "the people" are oppressed and calling for champions and that all current troubles can be laid at the feet of "The Government"("reclaim our government for the people").

In APTA the rhetorical style of blowsy bombast alternates with stirring echoes and references to the American Revolution, Star Wars and Spartacus. I guess the Congresscritters' cozy partnership with MediAmeriCo® pays off in being able to recycle cheezy schmaltz and outtakes from "Leave It To Beaver."

Bits and pieces:

"reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values "